Thang Quoc Bui, from the Melbourne suburb of Springvale, is charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of cannabis, cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis, possessing cannabis and theft of power.
At an unsuccessful bail application in the days after the initial police raid, Shepparton Magistrates’ Court heard police allegedly found 269 cannabis plants, weighing about 180kg, at a house on Marungi St in Shepparton on November 26 last year.
Shepparton Criminal Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Anthony De Cicco gave evidence then that there was a “sophisticated hydroponic cannabis setup” inside the garage and every bedroom.
Mr Bui, who was 48 at the time, was later released on bail — on December 19 last year — with his wife putting forward a $30,000 bail surety.
His bail conditions included that he not leave Victoria or Australia, not go to international points of departure, and surrender his passport.
On Wednesday, March 4, an Office of Public Prosecutions prosecutor applied for the bail surety put up by Mr Bui’s wife to be forfeited.
He said Shepparton police were notified on February 5 by the Australian Federal Police that Mr Bui was attempting to board a flight from Sydney to Vietnam.
The officer said he had placed an alert out for him to be notified if Mr Bui attempted to leave the country.
When Shepparton police arrived in Sydney, they allegedly found him with a ticket for a flight from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam leaving on February 5, as well as a second Vietnamese passport.
Mr Bui was extradicted back to Victoria and his bail was revoked in the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on February 9.
On Wednesday, March 4 magistrate Mark Sabljak ordered that the bail surety be forfeited.
The prosecutor told the court police had sent a letter by registered mail to Mr Bui’s wife advising her of their application for her to forfeit his bail surety.
The woman was not in court on Wednesday, but has 28 days to appeal the court to vary the order or rescind its decision on grounds of it being unjust.
Mr Bui also appeared briefly in court on Wednesday for his matters, with the help of a Vietnamese interpreter.
The prosecutor told the court Mr Bui’s committal mention could not proceed that day as Mr Bui’s previous defence counsel had just notified him that there had been problems with funding and he was withdrawing as Mr Bui’s defence counsel.
Mr Bui was remanded in custody to appear again in April.
